A Visit From My Pacar!

Hello to you, my patient readers, from a very apologetic young lady in Central Java!

I do owe you a huge apology for the lag in posts. It’s been on my mind almost every day to get something up on my blog, but the month of April absolutely flew by, and now, almost exactly a month later, I am finally free and able to get something worth reading (I hope!) up here.

My biggest prompter was Bu Lucy, a lady from PPA Sendang Guwo, who presented me with a gift today, and reminded me (unknowingly) that these special moments are forgotten if they are not recorded. The gift was a key chain, handmade by Bu Lucy herself, with a picture of Andrew (my boyfriend) and I in it. It’s big and blue and covered in glitter, and it is filled with love and care, which is what I find so special about it. Almost every day, the love of my host community is demonstrated to me, be it in the spaghetti that Bu Intan made especially for me, the surprise Birthday cake that the staff at church got for Andrew (and the accompanying song) on his birthday, the Rendang that Bu Ira sent over for lunch today, or in the half-eaten cookies that my TK kiddies offer to me. (Did anyone pick up on the food theme there?) If I were to record every loving act that my host community shows toward me, I could have filled my whole journal. And that’s despite my days of moodiness and resistance to the culture, which still pop up here and there. I’m truly showered with unconditional love each and every day, and just when I seem to forget it, something like the keychain comes along to remind me.

The month that has passed since my last “real” blog (April 7) dragged by at an unfathomably slow rate, and then picked up speed around April 18^th, which just so happens to coincide with the arrival of Andrew and Ellen, Mike’s girlfriend. The weeks prior to Andrew’s arrival were filled with Easter activities (yes, after Easter- for some reason, the actual date of these major holidays isn’t really all that important. Case in point: the Christmas banner at church, which was taken down in March), an unexpected little endeavour to Jogja and Solo, a visa renewal/SALTer reunion, and a few days with Mike. In fact, last night was my first night alone again in 20 days.

The trip to Jogja and Solo was completely unexpected, and was brought on by the visit of an MCC worker from Laos who arrived a few days prior to an MCC conference, and wanted to do some sightseeing. I was thrilled for the opportunity (which was presented to me on the Wednesday), and on Thursday morning (waaaaay back on April 12^th), Wendy and I were off to see Borobudur (the Buddhist temple that we also visited when my parents were here) and Prambanan (a cluster of Hindu Temples), and hit up some Batik stores in Solo. We spent the night at Sushant and Priti’s house (MCC workers from India) and enjoyed a fabulous homemade Indian meal for dinner. We also got a chance to go to Kopeng to see a really pretty waterfall there (which would have totally been worth it if not for the gridlock traffic that we encountered on our way home.) It was a packed two days, but definitely a lot of fun! 

That Saturday, Riki arrived, followed by Laura on Sunday morning, and Mike on Sunday afternoon. Jason was the last to arrive on Sunday evening, and us Canadian YALTers enjoyed a night together before taking care of visa renewal stuff (just in Semarang) for the last time, on Monday morning. Visa renewal was followed by a great lunch, and then Jason headed back to Kudus, and the rest of us headed back to my place. Riki and Laura left on Tuesday, and that left just one (long and seemingly endless) night before Andrew and Ellen’s arrival.

On April 18^th, after 8 months and 11 days apart (but who’s counting?), Andrew arrived, along with Mike’s girlfriend, Ellen. I cannot tell you how awesome it was to finally see him again, and it’s also hard to explain how normal it felt for him to be here, right from the get-go! We spent Thursday and Friday in my host community, following my normal schedule of TK, Ichthus, and PPA. It’s amazing how quickly so many things that I’ve been talking about these past 8 months, became clear to him. Within 2 days, he had tried a handful of Indonesian foods (including fried papaya leaves and deep fried whole catfish), ridden on a motorbike, spoken on Ichthus FM, saw my PPA Sendang Guwo site, played Zombie and “Dinosaurus” with my TK kids, watched a bunch of top-quality Indo action films in the home of one of my students, been sung to twice and presented with two cakes for his birthday (as well as pose with me for a picture of me feeding him the cake, an idea that my Indo friends thought was “so cute”… we thought otherwise), and introduced to most of the people that I most often interact with here in the Indo. The days were jam-packed, and he was jet-lagged, but he participated in everything wholeheartedly, asked tons of questions, and interacted with everyone despite the language barrier. I was so impressed!

We left on Saturday morning for a MUCH anticipated trip to Gili Trawangan, an island off the coast of Lombok, which is off the coast of Bali. Laura and I had done the vast majority of planning for the trip, and had decided to cut costs by taking the bus/ferry/speedboat combo there, and flying home. The trek there took about 30 hours from start to finish (the same amount of time that it took Andrew and Ellen to get here from Canada), but it was cool to get a chance to see Bali (we had to drive across it to get to Lombok), and ride some ferries and speedboats. The trek was also almost immediately forgotten upon our arrival in what I can only describe as true tropical paradise. Laura and I had done some research back in November and December, and had concluded that Gili Trawangan was the best match for our needs/desires- away from Java, reasonably priced, authentically Indonesian (not too overly touristy, like much of Bali tends to be), lots of good food options. We hit the nail right on the head- Gili Trawangan not only met, but far exceeded my already high expectations.

From the moment we arrived until the moment we left, we soaked up all that the island has to offer. Gili Trawangan is the biggest of a series of three popular Gili islands, and is the most developed. It is said to be the up-and-coming Bali, with tourism spiking just in the last five years. That said, there are still no motorized vehicles on the island, just bikes and horse carts, and there is just one 20-minute walk stretch of shops and restaurants and spas. The rest of the island is still filled with a lot of natural space, including a big hill that we climbed to watch the sunset over the mountains of Bali, on Thursday night. The population of Gili Trawangan is around 800 people, and the only access is by speedboat. The entire island takes less than two hours to walk around, which gives you an idea of how small it is. We visited in what is considered low season, which added a multitude of perks to the already perfect place, including cheaper prices for accommodations, and crowd-free beaches. The water was crystal clear, and we snorkeled several times (even taking a snorkeling trip to all three islands one day), and saw beautiful fish and huge sea turtles. The beaches were both sunny and shady, and there were tons of places to sit. In fact, every restaurant was literally on the beach (the “floors” were sand), and we set up our base at an Austrian restaurant with little gazebos right on the beach.

Our accommodation was a little place called Martas, run by a British woman who wants nothing more than to make your time as stress-free and enjoyable as possible. She bent over backwards to help us out, and everything was “no problem!” We stayed in a 2 bedroom “bungalow”, with a huge day bed outside, and a loft room upstairs. Breakfasts were included, and consisted of whole wheat toast and eggs or omelets or crepes, fresh fruit and fruit juice, and coffee or tea. Martas is a block off of the main strip, so right near the action, but removed enough to make it quieter than other accommodations. The whole trip was just one great thing after another, and I feel so lucky to have had that experience.

We flew back, leaving Ellen and Mike in Lombok to head back to Mike’s placement, and arrived back in Semarang on Saturday night. We were immediately plunged right back into the swing of things here, starting with two back-to-back church services on Sunday (7:30-1 on the pew, with an hour in between there for visiting at church). I was glad that Andrew got the chance to experience the more realistic parts of my placement as well. We all headed to Salatiga on Monday, and did a normal Monday routine for me, adding a visit to Pak Lilik and Ibu Christin’s to that. There was a thick envelope awaiting me at the MCC office, and inside I found letters from a whole bunch of kids at NUMC, my home church in Canada. Letters and packages mean so much for us here, and it was so special to get a tangible reminder of the people who are thinking of me and praying for me often, even after 8 months.

On Tuesday, we went to TK as usual, and then we headed out in search for Kopi Luwak, a really special (and a tad on the pricey side) coffee made from coffee beans that are found in the droppings of an animal called a Luwak. How one first discovered this delicacy I’ll never know, but the coffee that results is said to be the most delicious coffee in the world, and can sell for up to $50 a cup in North America. Thankfully, it didn’t cost anywhere near that here, and Andrew claimed it was a pretty awesome cup of coffee. (He let me try a precious sip, but it was lost on me, as I’m not really much of a coffee drinker.)

Wednesday is one of my busy days, so we were kept going from morning until night. The evening was a particularly good one though, as it was a chance for Andrew to talk to some native Indonesians in English (it’s my night at the Gloria Patri Learning Centre, where I help teach with people who have spent time in North America). We went to a delicious warung for dinner, owned by a woman from the Gloria Patri church. She fed us until we could eat no more, and then didn’t let us pay a cent for any of it. It was so generous, and the food was absolutely fantastic.

I had to say bye to Andrew yesterday morning, and while it was definitely not a fun thing to do, I was able to hold back any tears (mainly because I knew people would ask if I cried- people here have a funny thing with crying. It’s like crying is one of the most embarrassing things you could do, and people laugh at me for it! And yet it’s the first question I got from a whole bunch of people today), and I sent him off with the knowledge that the longest time apart is behind us, and I’ll be back in just 10 weeks.  

Speaking of that, it really is just two and a half months until I’m home! This year has felt like a strange time warp, moving slowly and yet unbelievably quickly at the same time. While I am undoubtedly excited about being reunited with my loved ones at home, I’m glad that I still have time here, as there are still quite a few things I’d like to do before I leave. These next two and a half months are filled with lots of good things, and I’m betting that they’ll fly by!

Well, there’s the long-overdue update! Thanks for bearing with it. I hope that everyone at home is doing well! Sending love, thoughts, and prayers your way!

Have a great day!

Love,

Ellery